Clarity
The Clarity metric judges whether text is easy to read, with a higher score indicating that the provided text is easier to read. It is based on the Flesch Reading Ease.
Clarity will be increased by the use of:
- Short sentences
- Short words
Clarity will be decreased by the use of:
- Long sentences
- Long words
FAQs
What is the difference between Clarity and Simplicity?
The Clarity and Simplicity metrics work together to assess overall readability, and as such assess different things. Clarity is based on the complexity of words (i.e the number of syllables), whereas Simplicity is based on the rarity of words (i.e how often they show up in standard language). A sentence consisting of words with many syllables will have low clarity but may still be easy to understand (e.g. high simplicity) if each word used is common.
As an example, consider the sentence:
"Education is important to communicate information, celebrate community, and provide motivation for every opportunity and situation that requires attention."
This scores a clarity score of 0 as the words used have many syllables, but a simplicity score of 75 as they are common.
How do I interpret the Clarity score?
The Clarity score can be easily mapped to levels of education [1] for a more intuitive understanding:
| Score | US School Level | UK School Level |
|---|---|---|
| 90 - 100 | 5th grade | Year 6 |
| 80 - 90 | 6th grade | Year 7 |
| 70 - 80 | 7th grade | Year 8 |
| 60 - 70 | 8th-9th grade | Year 9-10 |
| 50 - 60 | 10th-12th grade | Year 11-13 |
| 30 - 50 | College | University |
| 0 - 30 | College Graduate | University Graduate |
Citations
[1] Flesch, Rudolf. "How to Write Plain English". University of Canterbury. Archived from the original on July 12, 2016.